open | full circle pt 1

[exequy]

WHO: Concerned mages/rifters/others
WHAT: An emergency meeting!
WHEN: Solace 20
WHERE: The Gallows
NOTES: Explanation in the OOC post. Please tag this like a network post. There are top-level comments to provide a little chronology/structure, but threadjack to your heart's content.

Before and during dinner on an otherwise unremarkable Wednesday, there's a chain of whispers (or notes, or perfectly audible comments from the particularly unsubtle) about an emergency meeting, at an evening hour, in a basement room, regarding a matter of concern to rifters and mages.

The basement part is probably unnecessary. It's certainly ineffective; the organization is too small, the Gallows too contained, and the halls too echoey for something arranged with this much finesse-wrecking haste to truly remain a secret. They could have done it in an empty office or the recreational dining hall, probably, and sat on chairs instead of storage crates. But Kostos picked the location, and he's dramatic. If nothing else it signals a clear intention to do this as unofficially as necessary.

Anyone who accepts the invitation (or just decides to come see what the fuss is about) will first encounter Marcus Rowntree, posted up outside the door like a bouncer, letting mages and rifters move through undisturbed but stepping in to question and likely bar the arrival of anyone else. Inside, Kostos is nothing but a dark scowl in the room's far corner, picking at a splinter of wood on a crate and not mustering a word of greeting for anyone who comes in. Derrica has parked herself within arm's reach of Kostos, a long gold-edged shawl spilling over one shoulder. Her diplomacy pin gleams from the front of her tunic. The worried pinch to her brow is the only outward sign of anxiety; otherwise, she is tightly contained, watching people enter. Julius–notably not in robes–is serious but calm as people come in, standing next to the ever-composed Madame de Cedoux.

Once as many people have arrived as seem likely to, Marcus closes the door, remaining beside it, and they explain what the problem is.

Comments

[armd]

(Pardon, for the unaware,) What are phylacteries?

[overharrowed]

Ah. They're small vessels, most often glass vials, and they're magically keyed to a mage. Or another magical being, we know they can be made for rifters, too. They contain a bit of the target's blood, magically treated, and can be used to track that individual. And, we unpleasantly discovered a few years ago, under certain circumstances to target that individual with magic from a distance. But the first use was more common before the war.

It was standard, in the days of the old Circles, to make them for apprentice magi. Everyone up through and including First Enchanters had them.

[armd]

(Abby puffs out her cheeks, and expels all her breath at once.)

Fuck. (Okay, that's– a worst case scenario, and one that makes her skin fucking crawl. Helplessly,) Can you... break them? (Do something to get rid of them, anything?)

[overharrowed]

You can. Historically, the problem has been access. They were usually well-guarded, and not infrequently held in a different location than the mages they were connected to.

A few years ago, when were still part of the Inquisition, the organization recovered a cache of existing phylacteries that had been used against us by our enemies. It took intense negotiation, backed by a strike of Inquisition mages, before the organization agreed to destroy them rather than hand them back to the Chantry. And even then, they only destroyed those belonging to active members of the Inquisition. Once a leash exists, people are reluctant to lose access to it, even under pressure.

[tender]

And we can assume they will be similarly kept, if they are going to begin making new ones.

[ oh, and— ]

Julius, will the agreement end? Will mages no longer be able to petition for and request their phylacteries from the Chantry?

[overharrowed]

I think we can't count on the agreement persisting, under the circumstances, on a practical level. But I certainly think the Inquisition and Riftwatch should be very pointed and outspoken about the potential broader appearance of the Chantry negotiating in bad faith. That's a real loss for them that extends beyond their relationship with us.

[ipseite]

We can do real harm to trust in the Chantry through nothing but its own actions, and that is extremely valuable.

[overharrowed]

Yes, exactly that. It's a point worth making as many times as we need to.

sorry me again.

[detestable]

[ Well-guarded, whatever. ]

They keep 'em where you are, or are they all sent to some central location?

[overharrowed]

It depended. Usually more junior mages were kept close by, because the main use case was tracking down escape attempts. More senior mages tended to have theirs taken elsewhere. First Enchanters from each Circle had theirs sent to the White Spire in Orlais, though as that cache was later destroyed, I suspect a new system might decentralize.

[armd]

If we knew where they were being kept, what are the chances of sending a group to retrieve them by force?

[overharrowed]

[Mild:]

In this thought experiment, is it now, or is it after they've already locked the majority of mages and rifters into different places where they can't communicate with one another and they're under heavy guard? For their own protection, of course.

[armd]

(Fuck, true.

Lamely,) Now, I guess.

[overharrowed]

[Calmly:]

For now, up until we got this news, Riftwatch was still operating under an agreement that was negotiated when we were still part of the Inquisition. Any phylacteries in the Chantry's possession tied to an identifiable mage known not to be a supporter of Corypheus has already been destroyed. In exchange, they've kept custody of any phylacteries belonging to unidentified mages. Any time new ones were found, those belonging to identifiable mages have been destroyed and the Chantry got the remainder. I assume if that had stopped, there'd have been a loud enough protest from the Inquisition that we would be aware, though of course, that's not entirely certain.

It was far from a perfect system, but I can assure you, there were worse options on the table, and the Inquisition wasn't willing to fully lose the Chantry as allies over it.

[armd]

... Thanks for indulging me.

[overharrowed]

Of course. Those of you who are newer deserve to have as much information as the rest of us do.

[detestable]

[ the so, lock up evidence mounting. not that he'd disbelieved tsenka, just— ]

No outside communication?

[overharrowed]

If we're assuming the proposal will be similar to the Circles that existed before the war, very little. More senior and more ... cooperative mages were sometimes allowed to correspond with those elsewhere, but it varied widely by country, as well as by the temperament of the Knight-Commander -- the highest ranking Templar. But no private communication even then. I was in what passed for a permissive Circle, and was senior enough to have correspondents, but I expected all my letters could be read, whether or not all of them actually were.

[detestable]

[ well, that's a complication. ]

And this is what they're clamoring to get back to? Didn't get enough the first time around?

[overharrowed]

Some of them think it's inevitable, and they want to be sure they have the highest rooms in the tower they're locked in. Metaphorically or literally. Others know it's a sacrifice, but they think it's necessary, either because they don't believe other solutions will answer the problem of abominations, or because they think that anything short of a return to the Circles will lead to us being hunted down outright instead.

Some are just bastards, but that's a minority of any large enough group of people.

[detestable]

How big a problem are the abominations?